Tondidarou is a small town and megalithic archaeological site in

Niafunké Cercle Niafunké Cercle is an administrative subdivision of the Tombouctou Region of Mali. The administrative center (''chef-lieu'') is the town of Niafunké. In the 2009 census the cercle had a population of 184,285. The Niger River runs for 100&nbs ...

, Timbuktu Region,

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

, northwest of

Niafunké Niafunké is a small town on the Niger River in central Mali. The town is the administrative center (''chef-lieu An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the centr ...

, about 150 kilometres south-west of

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; ; Koyra Chiini: ; ) is an ancient city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, having a population of 32,460 in the 2018 census. ...

. The site, located on the eastern bank of

Lac Tagadji Lac may refer to: Places Africa * Lac Region, a district in Chad * Lac Prefecture, a district in Chad America * Rivière du Lac, a tributary of the Montmorency River, in Capitale-Nationale, Quebec, Canada Europe * Laç, a city in Albania * Lac, ...

, was discovered by

Jules Brévié Joseph-Jules Brévié (; 12 March 1880 – 28 July 1964) was a French colonial administrator who became governor-general of French West Africa from 1930 to 1936, and then governor-general of French Indochina from 1937 to 1939. He promoted liberal ...

in 1904 and is said to be "defined by three groups of stone megaliths", monoliths which are a "remarkable collection of phalliform stone monuments." ''Ancient Egypt in Africa'' refers to the site as "Diop's 'Egypt-influenced' phalliform stone circle of Tondidarou".

Eugene Maes Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

was the first to seriously document the stones at Tondidarou in 1924. It was extensively excavated in around 1980. The site is dated to 670 - 790 AD.

References

Further reading